Cafu and Ronaldinho celebrate at Shizuoka (Allsport)

By Stephen Joyce

They're the Samba kings, the flamboyant stars in yellow.

But Shizuoka showed they're also able to dig in and get a result.

There were no scissor kicks, barely a back-heel and it was the stern face of Brazil which sent England home from the World Cup.

England were thought to be able to take advantage of a side that would be exposed by having nine players upfield on any attack.

They were beaten by a side that pulled nine behind the ball in the final 10 minutes to repel every English raid.

David Beckham's last-minute corner was arrowing towards Nicky Butt at the near post but even the often-irresponsible Rivaldo had got back to put in the defensive header.

Brazil did live up to one pre-match billing - they gave England a goal with an absolute howler.

Lucio had entered English consciousness with a rather uncertain display for Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League clash at Anfield,

But he helped inspire the unsung Germans to the final, putting out Liverpool and Manchester United on the way and soon became a target of megabucks Real Madrid.

But on 23 minutes, he was back to the hunched-shouldered, shambling-gait hulk from that dodgy night on Merseyside.

He apparently tried to control Emile Heskey's inaccurate through ball with his hip and, off balance, saw it bounce away to a relieved Michael Owen who fired it home.

Lucio was not helped by the antics of keeper Silveiro Marcos who ignored usual rules of standing up big by almost diving out of the way before Owen struck.

We waited for the next catastrophic blunder but instead we got a glimpse of the real Brazil.

Ronaldinho nipped in after Paul Scholes had been robbed in midfield, flummoxed Ashley Cole with a step-over and set up Rivaldo to sweep a left-foot shot just inside David Seaman's right-hand post with craftsmanlike precision.

The second half may have been dominated by two incidents, Ronaldinho's freakish goal and his harsh dismissal, but it ultimately boiled down to Brazil's will to win.

They had the lead and were down to 10 men, but under the iron fist of 'Big Phil' Scolari, the mission was now to win, not to entertain.

Even Ronaldo was sacrificed as Brazil defended as manfully as England had done against Argentina a fortnight ago.

Brazil may enjoy the type of flair-fest we saw against Costa Rica but, most of all, they are here to win.

England found that out to their cost at Shizuoka.

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